Tribological characteristics of boron nitride nanosheets on silicon wafers obtained by the reaction of MgB2 and NH3

Boron nitride nanosheets (BNNSs) are a structural analogue of graphene that are thought to exhibit good tribological performances, due to their typical laminated structure. However, the tribological properties of pure solid BNNSs have not been thoroughly researched, which may be resulted from the lack of knowledge regarding the synthesis of this special two-dimensional (2D) material. In this work, BNNSs were deposited on silicon wafers via nitridation of magnesium diboride (MgB2) in a chemical vapor deposition system. The ammonia (NH3) was used as the nitrogen source. The tribological behaviors of the synthesized BNNSs, including friction and wear resistance, were evaluated with a CSM tribometer. The results indicated that the BNNSs can decrease the friction of bare silicon wafer. The average value of the friction coefficients had no obvious change with the changes in load and frequency. The wear rate increased when the load and frequency increased. The results suggested that the BNNSs had good potential applications in industrial lubrication, after they were modified by small molecules or polymers.